SternLife launches energy bar range as demand for convenient and healthy options continues

02 Oct 2018 --- Sports nutrition continues to move mainstream with consumer attention shifting to active living and health & wellness, pushing a growing interest in energy ingredients, proteins and convenient formats. SternLife has sought to incorporate the most prevalent consumer trends into its new range of energy bars, nutrition bars and paleo bars for customer brands and private labels. The new energy bar range seeks to combine flavor with functional added value.

Featuring high levels of dietary fiber and protein, the bars are manufactured from natural ingredients. The company reports that if requested, it can offer organic quality or purely plant-based options for vegans. In addition, the bars can also be individually enriched with vitamins and other functional ingredients. This results in dedicated target group solutions which can be promoted and marketed accordingly. 

SternLife is aiming to develop tailor-made solutions for each of its customers, offering compact solutions from the idea through to the finished product. 

Cereal, protein and energy bars growth continues
According to Innova Market Insights data, global launches of protein bars saw an annual growth rate of 29 percent between 2013 and 2017. 

“It is clear that cereal bars continue to be popular” reports LuAnn Williams, Director of Innovation at Innova Market Insights, “reflecting their significance as a convenient, portable snack or meal replacement with a nutritious image.”  

Meanwhile, global launches of cereal and energy bars saw modest growth in the 12 months to the end of March 2018, although activity in the large and mature US market fell back. Numbers are still running well ahead of five years ago, however, with the global total up nearly 75 percent over that period, mainly driven by activity in the less developed parts of the world.

As its popularity has grown, the sub-category has broadened to encompass a wide range of products, including granola/muesli bars and breakfast bars, as well as nutrition, energy and performance bars.  

The nutrition bars subcategory focuses specifically on health, but most of the products being launched onto the market also use health claims, with over 85 percent of global launches recorded by Innova Market Insights in the 12 months to the end of March 2018 using at least one health positioning of some kind, rising to over 93 percent in the US.

Key areas of interest are wholefood nutrition and natural ingredients, with clean labeling and free from being ongoing areas of focus. 

The market researcher notes that free from positionings lead globally, used for 54 percent of launches, just ahead of clean label on 51 percent. In the US the position is reversed, with clean label leading on 72 percent and free from on 64 percent.

Other key areas of interest include the use of whole grains, fiber and, more recently, protein.  Protein is now the most significant of the three in the US, where high/source of claims featured in over 43 percent of launches, compared with 26 percent for fiber and 19 percent for whole grains. 

Further data show that suppliers are moving well beyond the traditional flavors and incorporating combinations such as cookie and cream and cookie dough.